No, it certainly isn't the standard of service that I'd want. Obviously, I don't know all of the details, but I wouldn't describe what the Member has set out as being acceptable, and I'm sorry that any person would have that sort of experience. That's exactly why we're looking at ambulance response rates again with a short task and finish group, to look at actions to be taken sooner rather than later. There's nothing easy about this. The Member made this point earlier: if this was easy, we'd have pulled a lever and done it a long time ago. There isn't an easy answer to resolving all of the challenges of long waits in the system.

We know we've made real and sustained improvement in our ambulance service over the last four years. We know that other systems in Scotland and England have largely copied what we've done. But we also know that we've had a challenge that has grown over the last couple of years in particular about broader responsiveness, and that's what I'm looking to get into, to make sure that we have ambulances that are generally available for the risks that exist in the community, because while you manage what's in the front door of a hospital and that ties up resources there, you can't manage and deal with the risk in the way that you'd want to in the community. And that's accepted across the system as well, so it isn't about poking fingers at one part of our system; it's about delivering that whole-system improvement to deliver better care and more timely care for people right across the country.